Lateral Flow Tests

[flotemysost]

Hahaha, sorry!

[Dex Sawash]

I've been stuck on Snappy Kakkie since then which isn't very annoying except I don't know most of the words as it is a bit more mumblecore than most ZZTOPP

[jobotic]

There's been ZZ Top chat in the LFT thread? Where?

[Beagle 2]

My son suddenly started with a fever on Sunday night, I was pretty worried about him, he looked blotchy as well as the shivers and the temperature. Tested him the next day, he's four so obviously I hardly touched the sides of his nose before he freaked out, but two deep red lines straight away. I slept in the same bed as him on Sunday to keep an eye on him and I feel like shit today but still testing neggy. Strong urge to just keep chaining tests but also feel like it's a waste!

[flotemysost]

Sorry to hear that Beagle2, hope you and your boy are doing OK.

Last couple of LFTs I've done I've tried swabbing tonsils as well anyway, in case that makes it more accurate than just up the schnoz. Dunno if it makes any difference though.

[Beagle 2]

Oh well me and the kids all got it now, so I guess I was just one day away. Started with the temperature last night. Wife seems to have avoided it. So that's me ans two sick kids in a room for a week. Send rum.

[Ferris]

Shit one, hope you're doing alright. You'll be fine and kids sail through it - in a few weeks that'll be you all done, and you won't have to worry as much.

[Beagle 2]

Yeah I feel nowhere near as bad as the bastard megacold last year. Youngest is very rough though, I didn't expect them to feel bad at all really. Ah well, be rate.

[Spiteface]

Sorry to hear that Beagle2, hope you and your boy are doing OK.

Last couple of LFTs I've done I've tried swabbing tonsils as well anyway, in case that makes it more accurate than just up the schnoz. Dunno if it makes any difference though.

The ones I picked up from work are NHS ones and say in the instructions to do tonsils AND nostril. Makes sense to be a bit or thorough.

I'm having having to do this every day, but knowing how close I was to someone every day last week, who tested positive, I'd rather be thorough as excessive as it seems to me.

[mothman]

Hope you all get well soon B2.

[flotemysost]

The ones I picked up from work are NHS ones and say in the instructions to do tonsils AND nostril. Makes sense to be a bit or thorough.

First couple of packs I had last year were gob + nose, but since then they've always just been the stubby ones that only say to do both nostrils in the instructions. Thought I'd try this ONE WERID TRICK and do tonsils still anyway, but I'm still void of 'vid as far as I can tell, so who knows.

Panic-ordered some more this morning in case tests are imminently declared unnecessary.

[Pranet]

From 16th Feb, we are supposed to do a lateral flow test before each shift. Fine, whatever. But it seems a bit late to be honest. Would have been useful 18 months ago. A government requirement apparently.

[wooders1978]

Had a bit of a cold and thought nothing of it, then I couldn't taste my ruby tonight and thought it was a bit odd - 1 lft later and I'm in the club - feel fine, as I say, mild cold and what I thought were hangover symptoms (deserved)

[flotemysost]

Ah no, hope it doesn't hit you too badly wooders!

My first symptom was a sore throat, so I dunno if giving my tonsils a once-over as well helped pick it up sooner in my case - I just figured it seemed likely it'd be lurking in there, given my gullet felt like a sanding block.

Fwiw, I was doing daily lateral flows in the run-up to getting it (as I'd been out and about quite a bit), and I saw a few friends the day before I tested positive. As those people are now officially close contacts of my own rancid bubonic cadaver, they need to do daily LFTs themselves all week, and they've reported back that they're all fine so far, luckily. I tested negative the day I saw them, before I left the house, and I had no symptoms at that point (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have gone out!). I'm guessing it was probably in my system by then, but incubating still.

I guess what I'm saying is, regular testing (especially just before mixing with others) does seem to be a pretty good way of picking up if you're infectious or not, and hopefully catching it before you're in superspreader mode. I know they're not 100% accurate and there's other factors at play, but given that transmission seems a right slippery bugger at the moment it's probably a not a bad precaution to take at all.

[popcorn]

Had a bit of a cold and thought nothing of it, then I couldn't taste my ruby tonight and thought it was a bit odd - 1 lft later and I'm in the club - feel fine, as I say, mild cold and what I thought were hangover symptoms (deserved)

Same here. Sore throat, tested negative yesterday, still have symptoms today so tested again and bam, I'm in the covid cool club (CCC).

I'm feeling fine so far, just slightly under the weather.

[Ferris]

Same here. Sore throat, tested negative yesterday, still have symptoms today so tested again and bam, I'm in the covid cool club (CCC).

I'm feeling fine so far, just slightly under the weather.

Was cooler in December mate. This is like getting into the Strokes because of Room On Fire. Sort it out.

[wooders1978]

I hope you guys are ok, flote & popcorn

My cold symptoms are gone and I'm now in the nausea, fatigue and body pain section of it - been generally ok but tiredness hit me like a train this afternoon - I'm also having some bouts where I think I'm short of breath, but I think that might be anxiety acting up

[mothman]

I've done so many negative LFTs at this point, I'm stressing over whether I'm doing them right. I'm halfway afraid that if I get a positive, I'll be more relieved - that at least I know it's working - than scared.

[popcorn]

I've done so many negative LFTs at this point, I'm stressing over whether I'm doing them right.

You're probably doing them right. I always wondered if I was half-arsing them myself until I got my positive results. As long as you're sticking the thing up yer nose and poking it about a bit, that seems to be sufficient.

[mothman]

Yeah. I keep re-reading the booklet to make sure I'm still doing it right...

[Ferris]

I've done so many negative LFTs at this point, I'm stressing over whether I'm doing them right. I'm halfway afraid that if I get a positive, I'll be more relieved - that at least I know it's working - than scared.

I did my usual rapid test routine after testing positive just to check that I was doing it right. Weirdly relieved when it was positive.

[MojoJojo]

Exciting lft news: the last couple of packs I received have been the original back of throat types, with the buffer solution in separate pods and the longer swabs.

Going back to them I find I don't mind swabbing the back of my throat so much - shame suppressing your gag reflex isn't a marketable skill - but it's annoying getting all the solution out of the capsules, and I've had a couple of failed tests because there wasn't enough liquid.

[olliebean]

shame suppressing your gag reflex isn't a marketable skill

In certain lines of work...

[Dex Sawash]

Got my socalist LFT tests in the mail from Biden yesterday. Going to put them in the gun safe for now.

[thugler]

They've definitely reduced the amount of buffer. I can only get it to go into the test by pouring it out rather than squeezing it through the nozzle. Cheapskate cunts

[popcorn]

I still have only very mild symptoms but my fucking tests are still coming back screaming positive. I've been sitting in my flat for a fucken week. Covid is well boring

[flotemysost]

Ah sorry to hear that popcorn, I had the same thing, raging red double lines for what felt like an eternity. Glad you're not feeling too bad at least.

Panic-ordering tests again before they inevitably whisk them away and the pack I received recently was NHS rather than the stubby FlowFlex ones, too. They're definitely going to stop offering free LFTs at some point, aren't they? Guess I'll just need to make sure I catch each year's variant, and then see any vulnerable family/friends in the subsequent window of ur-immunity. Can't wait!

[Ferris]

I still have only very mild symptoms but my fucking tests are still coming back screaming positive. I've been sitting in my flat for a fucken week. Covid is well boring

As the parent of a small child, getting 10 days in the basement with my video games and guitars was fantastic. Nobody could tell me off! I was being responsible by drinking rum and playing Half Life. Towards the end I considered fudging a positive test or two with a biro to keep the good times coming.

Can't wait for it to be an annual event tbh.

[popcorn]

Aye I'm grateful that I'm not very ill, it could be so much worse, but I really am starting to go doolally. The most human interaction I've had in seven days has been between me and the Sainsbury's delivery bloke through my door. The lack of exercise has also really started to do me in. I'm a 10,000-steps-a-day man and I don't have a garden.

I keep fantasising about my life in Tokyo when I worked in a massive skyscraper and went around bumming women with impunity. Where did it all go wrong? How did I end up stuck in this flat on my own? This is rubbish.

As the parent of a small child, getting 10 days in the basement with my video games and guitars was fantastic. Nobody could tell me off! I was being responsible by drinking rum and playing Half Life.

Yes I think Resident Evil Village was the only thing that stopped me going fully bananas. Unfortunately I completed it last night.

I've ordered the Resident Evil 3 remake :(

[Attila]

We staff and the students are expected to do LFTs 2x a week, but now the gov't has cancelled the contract for free LFTs for universities. So no more testing on campus.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/17/ministers-stop-supply-free-covid-tests-universities-england

My university is so far up the gov't's arse that they'll probably happily  concede to the cessation of all covid related precautions after 24th February. We were at 300 cases of covid a day a couple weeks back, within a week of the start of the semester -- and then management ordered that we go back to mandatory mask wearing in campus and classrooms: surprise, within two weeks, our cases have dropped to around 50 a day.